Bicyclists not free to ride as they please

A police crackdown in the city's Lakeview neighborhood carries a warning: Traffic laws that apply to cars also apply to bikes.

July 20, 2005|By Kelly Kennedy, Tribune staff reporter.

When bicycle police stopped Jacob Meehan at Roscoe and Halsted Streets in Chicago's Lakeview neighborhood, he immediately knew what he had done.

"I was going the wrong direction on a one-way," Meehan said.

"No, we caught him going through a stop sign," the officer said.

"Oh," Meehan said.

Police spent six hours Tuesday on bike patrol in Lakeview, giving out 37 warnings to bicyclists for running red lights, riding on sidewalks and, indeed, going the wrong direction on a one-way street. Next month, police will start handing out tickets, with fines that range from $25 to $250.

Members of Mayor Richard Daley's Bicycling Ambassadors, an educational outreach group, were also in Lakeview on Tuesday, passing out bike safety information and maps showing routes with bike lanes or wide streets. They'll be out again in Lakeview from 1 to 9 p.m. Wednesday.

"It's kind of annoying because I was trying to do my thing, but it's understandable," Meehan said about the police stop. "At least they were gracious enough to give me a warning."

Then he asked the officer if he should be wearing a helmet in Chicago.

Yes.

Bicyclists in the neighborhood agreed they tend to ignore the rules, and that it could lead to injury. Police decided to start on Halsted Street because business owners had complained about too many bicycles on the sidewalks, Chicago Police Sgt. Phil Greco said.

"We're not out to hurt anyone with a citation," Greco said. "We're just out here to make it safer."

Greco said a lot of bicyclists do not know that only children younger than 12 may ride on sidewalks or that the same laws that apply to cars apply to bicycles. But some of them do and ignore the rules.

Just after scooting through a red light, Josh Zaffino said police had no reason to patrol the neighborhood because most of the bicyclists are regulars who know the rules.

"Granted, there was a red light back there," he said, "but there weren't any cars."

As he spoke, another man drove his bike past on the sidewalk.

Zaffino said he sometimes rides his bike on the wrong side of the road, but that sometimes it is hard to get over to the correct side when traffic is heavy.

"But it's not a problem," he said. "If people are coming from the other direction, bikers always get out of the way."

Eve Jennings, program director for the Bicycle Ambassadors, said bicyclists need to obey the law because they cannot always be sure what everybody else is going to do. For example, a person opening a car door might look to the rear to make sure no one is coming, but not forward because traffic is not supposed to be coming from that direction.

And bicyclists need to be safer in general. Jennings said seven bicyclists died in 2003 in Chicago. "We want more people to bicycle," she said. "We aren't here to scare people, but they have to be safe."

Since she began in her position four years ago, Jennings said she has seen more people biking, as well as more bike lanes and programs for bicyclists.

And, cities known for being bicycle-friendly are calling her to ask about the ambassador program, she said. The program includes five full-time staff members and 10 part-time junior ambassadors who will attend 350 events this summer to talk about bicycle safety.

"Motorists are beginning to anticipate bicyclists and give them more space on the road," she said. "But it's not perfect yet."

Three blocks north of Roscoe, bicyclist Stuart Goodman said the heavy traffic on Halsted can be a problem for bicyclists.

"Cars driving in the bike lanes all the time scare the heck out of me," he said. "I think they speed up for bike riders to try to cut us off."

Then he said he has a tendency to drive through red lights on his bicycle.

"I guess it's too much like being a pedestrian, so I don't think about it," he said. "It's probably a good idea to give out tickets."

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Safety tips

Don't ride against traffic: 20 percent of all car-bike collisions involve cyclists going the wrong way

Don't hug the curb: The farther from the curb you ride, the better motorists can see you. It also helps you avoid people opening car doors.

Ride in the middle: When you're moving at the speed of traffic or if the lane is too small for cars to pass you safely.

No weaving: Don't weave around parked cars

More safety information: Visit the Web site www.cityofchicago.org/transportation.

Source: Chicago Department of Transportation.

By the numbers

Illinois in 2002

- There were 22 bicyclists killed in traffic accidents.

Nationally in 2002

- There were 662 bicyclists killed and 48,000 injured in traffic crashes.

- Bicyclists younger than 16 accounted for 24 percent of all bicyclists killed and 39% of those injured in traffic accidents.

- Alcohol was involved in more than one-third of the bicyclist fatalities.